KapCan & Macho World Tour

Chapter 30 - Red Intertwined

– Now add sautéed onion to your potatoes and farmer's cheese and mix it.

Maria was watching as Sanem put her hands in the bowl and made the stuffing homogeneous. It's been a while since she's had a company and her house, which has been empty for the past three years, regained a bit of its familiar spark. The cold still hung in the corners, but this girl's laugh, the way she kept asking if she's doing everything correctly, put some warmth in her old bones. She loved her colors. They went perfectly with Can's.

– Maria hanım? – Sanem was looking at her expectantly. – What now?

– Now, my child, you add salt and pepper and you're done.

– Really? It's that simple? – She took some stuffing and put it in her mouth. It was delicious.

– The best recipes always are. – The woman smiled and got up. She grabbed a rolling pin and turned to Sanem. – Now we make pierogi.

Can was on his way back from the store. He bought the anti-corrosive paste and a big can of paint for the gate. Since they were here, he might as well help and fix a few things. Maria was trying to talk him out of it, saying he shouldn't bother, but he wouldn't budge. Years ago she and her husband opened their home to him and made him feel like part of their family. Now that Maria was all alone, the least he could do was help a little.

When he left, Sanem was drinking hot cocoa in the kitchen, while Maria was taking out bowls and pans. They were going to cook something and Can's first instinct, as usual when it came to his wife and the kitchen, was to warn Maria hanım not to do it. It took him a second to remember that Sanem was now an amazing cook and there was no recipe she couldn't master. He smiled and parked by the gate. It's been almost three pm and the sun was already on its way over the horizon. Fixing the gate will have to wait till tomorrow.

The kitchen radio was set to the station playing old Polish classics. Sanem was humming quietly a melody she's never heard before, stirring the pot where the pierogi were already floating on the surface of the boiling water. A couple more minutes and she'll be taking them out, but in the meantime she looked around the place. The kitchen wasn't big – it was smaller than the one in her parents' house, and much darker, because the only window was obscured by a large thuja. The floor was so old, there was no color left on the tiles, and the walls could use a fresh coat or two of paint. It would've looked really shabby, had it not been for the cabinets which lined two walls. They were breathtakingly beautiful, made of light colored wood and expertly carved with floral ornaments. Sanem touched one of the flowers and smiled.

– Those are spider flowers. Cleome. – She said out loud, forgetting for a moment where she was.

– What was that, child? – Maria came up to her with a huge ladle strainer and pushed it into Sanem's hand.

– The flowers. They're native to South America and South Asia, but they can be found in most parts of the world now. In Turkey they're pretty rare in the wild. – She gently removed the pierogi from the pot and put them on the plate. The smell was amazing.

– You know about the flowers. I thought you might. – Maria hanım started chopping the onions.

– Why?

– Your colors. – She shrugged as if it was self explanatory.

Sanem looked at her expectantly, but the woman did not elaborate. 

– What do you mean? – Sanem asked, but Maria only waved her hand and said nothing. A moment later Can walked in with three bags of fruits and vegetables, juice and milk. Without a word he put the eggs in the fridge and fresh herbs on the windowsill. Only then he looked at the women.